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Device status report use cases

Updated

This article applies to CrashPlan Enterprise and MSPs.png

Overview

The device status report provides visibility into devices, users, and organizations in your CrashPlan environment to help you address common problems and questions. This article explains how to run a report via the CrashPlan console, and provides several sample use cases.

Run a device status report

  1. Sign in to the CrashPlan console.
  2. Select Administration > Status > Reporting.
    Device Status is selected by default.
  3. Enter criteria to narrow your search, such as user, device status, or OS details.
  4. Click Run Report.
  5. (Optional) Click the column selector icon Column_Selector_Icon-671-source.png to show or hide additional columns.
  6. (Optional) Click Export Records to download a CSV file of the search results.

Device_Status_report_8.7_annotated_numbers.png

Example use cases of the device status report

Use case 1: Backup status

Using the device status report, you can easily identify which devices have not connected recently and, therefore, may have data that is not backed up.

Run the report

  1. From User Status, select Active.
  2. (Optional) Add additional criteria as necessary to refine your search.
  3. Click Run Report.

View results

Option A: Sort by last connected date

This method requires you to page through the results if there are more than 100 rows.

  1. Add the Last Connection Date column:
    1. Click the column selector icon Column_Selector_Icon-671-source.png.
    2. Select Last Connection Date.
    3. Click anywhere outside the column selector to return to the search results.
  2. In the search results, click the Last Connection Date column heading to sort the results in ascending order (oldest connections listed first).
Option B: Export to CSV

This method allows you to access all of the results at once, even if there are more than 100 rows.

  1. Click Export Records.
    The CSV file is generated and downloads.
  2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
  3. Sort the results by the lastConnectedDate column.

Use case 2: Plan device migration

The device status report can identify devices running a particular operating system in an organization and help determine which devices need to be migrated to a newer operating system.

Run the report

  1. Submit a search query with the following parameters selected:
    • Organization: Specify the organization you are planning to migrate.
    • OS: Select the operating system of the devices to be migrated.
  2. Click Run Report.
  3. Show the operating system version for each device:
    1. Click the column selector icon Column_Selector_Icon-671-source.png.
    2. Select OS Version.
    3. Click anywhere outside the column selector to return to the search results.

View results

Export to CSV

This method allows you to sort by OS Version and access all of the results at once, even if there are more than 100 rows.

  1. Click Export Records.
    The CSV file is generated and downloads.
  2. Open the CSV file in the spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
  3. Sort the results by the osVersion column.

Use case 3: Purge cold storage to free space

To locate archives that can be purged from cold storage, the device status report shows all devices with archives in cold storage, along with the date on which the devices last connected.

 Purge Archives

This is an example only. Before purging any archives from cold storage, confirm that the archives are no longer needed. Depending on your company's data retention policy, you may need to keep archives for a defined period of time.

Run the report

  1. Leave all search fields blank and click Run Report.
    This returns all of the archives in your CrashPlan platform.
  2. Review the values in the Cold Storage column:
    • True indicates that a device's archive is in cold storage.
    • False indicates that a device's archive is not in cold storage.

View results: Export to CSV

The best way to view the results is to export to a CSV file because you are receiving a list of all of the devices and archives in your CrashPlan environment. Viewing the results within the device status report requires you to page through the results if you have more than 100 devices.

  1. Click Export Records
    The CSV file is generated and downloads.
  2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
  3. Filter the results to show only the devices that have the coldStorage column set to true.
    • True indicates that a device's archive is in cold storage.
    • False indicates that a device's archive is not in cold storage.
  4. Sort the filtered list by lastConnectedDate to identify the archives that are no longer needed.
  5. Purge the archives to free up space.

Use case 4: Search external reference fields

The device status report also searches external reference fields for users, devices, and organizations. The external reference fields store optional free-form text comments added by administrators.

Run the report

  1. Search for devices with one or more of the custom metadata fields:
  • User External Reference: Enter User ID or other reference information in the User field.
  • Device External Reference: Enter device ID or reference information in the Device field.
  • Organization External Reference: Enter organization ID or reference information on the Organization field.
  1. Click Run Report.
  2. Click the column selector icon Column_Selector_Icon-671-source.png.
  3. Select Device External Reference, Organization External Reference, or User External Reference.
  4. Click anywhere outside the column selector to return to the search results.

View results: Export to CSV

  1. Click Export Records.
    The CSV file is generated and downloads.
  2. Open the CSV file in the spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
  3. Sort the results by userExtRef, deviceExtRef, or orgExtRef column.

Use case 5: Identify CrashPlan app upgrade problems

The device status report enables you to identify CrashPlan app devices that did not upgrade successfully. Once you identify devices that did not upgrade, take the necessary steps to troubleshoot the device configuration. In most cases, manually uninstalling and reinstalling the CrashPlan app corrects the issue.

Run the report

  1. From Device Status, select Active.
  2. (Optional) Add other filter criteria as appropriate to narrow the search. For example:
    • Use the OS filter to limit results to only Windows devices.
    • Use the Organization filter to limit results to a specific organization.
  3. Click Run Report.

View results

Option A: View results in the CrashPlan console

This method requires you to page through the results if there are more than 100 devices.

  1. Add the last connection date and CrashPlan app version for each device:
    1. Click the column selector icon Column_Selector_Icon-671-source.png.
    2. Select Last Connection Date and Client Version.
    3. Click anywhere outside the column selector to return to the search results.
  2. In the search results, click the Last Connection Date column heading to sort the results in ascending order (oldest connections listed first).
  3. Check for devices displaying an old Client Version number that also have not connected since the date you upgraded your devices.
    The version number of the CrashPlan app in the results also includes the build number. For example, 6.9.2.123 indicates CrashPlan app version 6.9.2, build 123.
Option B: Export results to CSV

This method allows you to access all of the results at once, even if there are more than 100 devices.

  1. Click Export Records.
    The CSV file is generated and downloads.
  2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
  3. Sort the results by the lastConnectedDate column.
  4. Check for devices with an older value in the Version column that also have not connected since the date you upgraded your devices.
    The version number of the CrashPlan app in the results also includes the build number. For example, 6.9.2.123 indicates CrashPlan app version 6.9.2, build 123.

Additional resources

CrashPlan has a number of additional resources available to help you get the most value from your CrashPlan environment while securing your organization's vital data.

  • Use the tools in our customer toolkit to get up and running quickly and discover how to optimize CrashPlan for your organization.
  • Consult with our Professional Services team for help with deploying CrashPlan across your organization and integrating with tools you already use.
  • Engage one of our Technical Account Managers (TAMs) to gain extensive insights about the health of your environment and fully leverage all CrashPlan features, customized for your organization. (TAM services may already be included in your support plan.)

Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) for more information about how to access these resources. If you do not know your CSM, please contact technical support.

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